Welcome to the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Doctor Is In Series – where we will discuss understandings and developments in the field of psychology.
In today’s episode, Chris and Abbie are discussing the Bystander Effect. They will talk about the many different ways it presents itself as well as how to avoid it and what you can do if you find yourself victim of it. [March 3, 2025]
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Show Notes

Welcome to the Social-Engineer Podcast: The Doctor Is In Series – where we will discuss understandings and developments in the field of psychology.
In today’s episode, Chris and Abbie are discussing the Bystander Effect. They will talk about the many different ways it presents itself as well as how to avoid it and what you can do if you find yourself victim of it. [March 3, 2025]
00:00 – Intro
00:14 – Dr. Abbie Maroño Intro
00:45 – Intro Links
- Social-Engineer.com– http://www.social-engineer.com/
- Managed Voice Phishing– https://www.social-engineer.com/services/vishing-service/
- Managed Email Phishing– https://www.social-engineer.com/services/se-phishing-service/
- Adversarial Simulations– https://www.social-engineer.com/services/social-engineering-penetration-test/
- Social-Engineer channel on SLACK– https://social-engineering-hq.slack.com/ssb
- CLUTCH– http://www.pro-rock.com/
- org– http://www.innocentlivesfoundation.org/
03:06 – The Topic of the Day: The Bystander Effect
03:16 – Defining the Bystander Effect
05:14 – The Smoke Filled Room
09:03 – The Advantage of CCTV
11:13 – The Ambiguity Factor
12:53 – Gender Dynamics
15:20 – Self-Construal
16:43 – Reverse the Roles
21:21 – Bystanding Online
22:59 – It’s Easier to be Negative
25:34 – Fear Factor
27:53 – Assigning Responsibility
30:34 – Education is Key
31:19 – Just Ask!
32:40 – Wrap Up
32:49 – Next Month: Why Do We Cry?
33:12 – Outro
Find us online:
- Twitter: @DrAbbieofficial
- LinkedIn: com/in/dr-abbie-maroño-phd
- Instagram: @DoctorAbbieofficial
- Twitter: @humanhacker
- LinkedIn: com/in/christopherhadnagy
References:
Bauman, S., Yoon, J., Iurino, C., & Hackett, L. (2020). Experiences of adolescent witnesses to peer victimization: The bystander effect. Journal of school psychology, 80, 1-14.
Fadilah, I. N., & Ansyah, E. H. (2022). The Relationship Between The Bystander Effect and Prososial Behavior in Students Of The Faculty Of Psychology And Educational Sciences At University. Academia Open, 7, 10-21070.
Ganti, N., & Baek, S. (2021). Why People Stand By: A Comprehensive Study About the Bystander Effect. Journal of Student Research, 10(1).
Havlik, J. L., Vieira Sugano, Y. Y., Jacobi, M. C., Kukreja, R. R., Jacobi, J. H. C., & Mason, P. (2020). The bystander effect in rats. Science Advances, 6(28), eabb4205.
Kettrey, H. H., & Marx, R. A. (2021). Effects of bystander sexual assault prevention programs on promoting intervention skills and combatting the bystander effect: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of experimental criminology, 17, 343-367.
Levine, M., Philpot, R., & Kovalenko, A. G. (2020). Rethinking the bystander effect in violence reduction training programs. Social Issues and Policy Review, 14(1), 273-296.
Liu, D., Liu, X., & Wu, S. (2022, June). A Literature Review of Diffusion of Responsibility Phenomenon. In 2022 8th International Conference on Humanities and Social Science Research (ICHSSR 2022) (pp. 1806-1810). Atlantis Press.
Machackova, H. (2020). Bystander reactions to cyberbullying and cyberaggression: individual, contextual, and social factors. Current opinion in psychology, 36, 130-134.
Madden, C., & Loh, J. (2020). Workplace cyberbullying and bystander helping behaviour. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(19), 2434-2458.
Szekeres, H., Halperin, E., Kende, A., & Saguy, T. (2022). Aversive Bystander Effect: Egalitarian bystanders’ overestimation of confronting prejudice.